


Someone Might Get Hurt (Beautifully Doomed)

by CarnivalofBrokenDolls (yourrhinestoneeyes)



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, So much angst, Stabbing, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 16:33:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9193523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourrhinestoneeyes/pseuds/CarnivalofBrokenDolls
Summary: When a wound is deep enough it can take quite some time to heal, when it is picked and re-opened it will more than likely leave a permanent scar. This is what they did to each other.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is the result of wanting to write fluff then listening to too much She Wants Revenge.

All wounds took time to heal. 

Depending on the size of the wound, depending upon the depth of it determined how long recovery would take. The deeper the cut then the longer it would take to close on its own, if you picked at the itching red scabbed over skin it would re-open and bleed just the slightest bit. The more you fussed with the healing wound then the bigger chance of scarring, the worse the scar then the longer you remembered how you got it in the first place.

That was the way things between Ed and Oswald had gotten.

Ed in rage and with little tactical thinking had taken to siding with Barbara Kean. He had a feeling she would obviously have him killed off once she got what she wanted, the metaphorical throne at the pile of garbage known as Gotham city. Knowing what she was likely to do to him he had planned on his own, unfortunately his plans were rushed and his normally highly functioning mind was foggy. He felt that Barbara was relying on that, she knew it would knock Ed off balance to learn that not only had Oswald murdered Isabella, but he had done it out of selfish and possessive love for his chief of staff. 

Love that Ed hadn’t wanted to believe at first, love and affection he had never caught onto. He would silently curse himself for eternity over being so blind. He cursed himself for taking up sides with Barbara and Tabitha, he should have noticed the more than obvious signs of Oswald’s love towards him sooner. There were countless other possibilities that Ed wished he had taken, smarter decisions and risks.

Yet he had done none of that. He had been blind as a fool, he had trusted the snake in the Garden of Eden and never once thought how it could potentially ruin things. He didn’t know that Barbara would set it up just so that with little effort she could pin it all on Ed.

She had been quick to letting Ed call all the shots. She had him do all the work that didn’t involve her charms or Butch and Tabitha threatening people with severe acts of violence. Ed had unwittingly become the mastermind of emotionally crippling Oswald and at first, he had taken pride in it. From afar watching Oswald come undone at the seams had been the most satisfying rush he had gotten in quite some time. He felt he was gaining something from this, from removing himself from Oswald’s side as to avoid suspicion (that being what he told himself) and to know he was the one causing his distress. 

The problem came when guilt began rattling around in his heart and his gut. His stomach cramped, his chest ached, and his head pulsed with sharp pains. He reminded himself of all the things Oswald had done for him in the past, he had been nothing but kind to him. He even let Ed prattle off riddles and science facts just because he knew how happy they made the younger man. He gave him a gorgeous mansion to live in, provided him with the finest clothes Ed had ever worn in his life. He gave him adoration and affection he had never known in his life, even when he’d been with Kristen all she had done was comment on who she wanted him to be instead of love him for who he was. 

Each time the guilt ate at him he pictured Isabella’s mangled corpse on the autopsy table, he imagined her panicked screams, he thought about all the lies. Oswald had kept it from him for days, he made him look like a total idiot, Ed had nearly killed two people because of him. 

The warring emotions, the voices in his head that mixed and screamed and whispered harshly in his ears were too much. They were his downfall, they kept him from noticing what was occurring under his nose. He didn’t notice the trail he was leaving, a trail leading straight to himself. He didn’t realize that without effort Barbara would out him to Oswald.

She invited the small broken man to her night club early morning, she told him everything and then some extras. She showed him photographic, audio, and paper printed proof that Ed was the one causing this. Ed had hired Clay Face to pose as his father and torment him, Ed had leaked fear toxin into his bedroom to cause intense and horrific hallucinations, Ed had sent previously unknown facts about Oswald’s criminal past to the press causing public outrage. It all lead back to Ed and Ed was grateful that he hadn’t been in the club to see Oswald’s reaction. He couldn’t imagine the shock and the betrayal, he knew he should be happy about it. 

When Barbara being the ‘good friend’ that she was revealed the truth to Oswald she had handed him a knife, had told him that Ed didn’t love him. She had told him that Ed only pretended to be his friend, that he had been playing the sad little bird like a fiddle from day one. With all the stress, anxiety, and the Hellscape that had been Oswald’s life recently he bought it. 

The eventual confrontation had been painful to say the least. Unlike Ed, Oswald had been direct and straight to the point. He had called Ed insistently, demanded him to return to the mansion so that they could speak. There was a tone to his voice that almost sounded like the clipped pretentious mask Oswald used to wear way back when he had dethroned Fish Mooney. When Ed had arrived, he had found him in the sitting room standing by the fireplace, the same room that they had spent many nights. Ed had looked at the love seat, the one they had sat on many nights ago, after Ed had risked his life for Oswald. The night that he now knew started all of this.

“Oswald?”

The smaller man’s body tensed at the sound of Ed speaking his name, he tightened his grip on his cane as he slowly turned to face the taller man. It was just then that Edward realized this was the first time in weeks the two of them had been together, together and alone. This was a grave mistake, but one that had to be made.

Ed forced himself to take two small and calculated steps forward, it reminded him of their first-time meeting. He felt that same nervousness with a tinge of excitement, the feeling of knowing he was standing before a dangerously understated man. Even though Penguin was a head shorter than him, he was slight in frame, and with each passing year the condition of his leg worsened. Despite all of that he was wound tighter than a spring, he was a dangerous predator waiting to strike when truly pushed to it. He knew coming here was pushing his luck, stepping closer was tempting fate. Standing closer to Oswald was different.

He noticed how clammy his pale skin was, his freckles stood out against his skin, black hair wasn’t as groomed as it normally was, even his suit looked like it had been thrown on in a rush. 

“I know” Oswald stated in a flat matter of fact tone.

His blue eyes looked dead and cold, it was unnerving. Ed found himself shifting his weight from his right foot to his left, he tapped his fingers against his thigh nervously.

“What?”

He was lost.

This time it was Oswald who took a step forward, unlike Ed his step wasn’t small or cautious. The step that he took towards Ed was more like a long stride bringing them too close, close enough that Ed could count each little freckle on his face, he could see the mix of gray and blue in his eyes, and notice every strand of hair that stuck to his forehead. 

“Ms. Kean was lovely enough to tell me everything Ed. She told me that this was you, all of it; the fear toxin, hiring that-that monster to pose as my father.” 

There was a heated rage in his voice, jaw clenched tight and teeth bared in a snarl as he stared up daringly at Edward. Even past the rage Ed could see the unbridled fear, the gut-wrenching pain that was begging to be soothed. He wanted to help him.

He couldn’t, he’d done this to him.

“My father Edward, you know how much he meant to me. Were you planning on doing the same with my mother or did you think that might be a little too much?” 

Ed remained silent, he assumed foolishly that the smaller man didn’t want a response.

That was until Oswald slammed the end of his cane down on the hardwood floor, “Answer me Ed!” he screamed at him causing the taller man to flinch despite himself.

The flinching brought a small fragile smile to Oswald’s face. Coming here had been a mistake.

‘Duh’ a voice in his head chimed in response to the obvious.

“Why, why did you do this to me?”

The noises inside of Ed’s head were growing louder, for a second he felt dizzy and on the verge of passing out. He forced himself against his better judgement to step away from Oswald, to put just half an inch of distance between them. He needed to think, he needed to regroup, he couldn’t handle this. He didn’t know what to do or why he had come in the first place.

Suddenly clarity hit him like a ton of bricks. He could feel the cold hands of his more composed self, he felt completely gone from himself. Ed watched himself as he moved forward, watched as he placed a hand against Oswald’s chest shoving him back against a wall. The look of rage was slipping into a look of fear. Ed found himself grinning at the glint of fear in the more fragile man’s bright eyes.

“You killed Isabella, you stole her from me. That’s why this is happening, you did this to yourself. You made me look like an idiot, you lied to me and honestly believed for a second that you could get away with it. What did you plan on doing Os, what the Hell was the end game plan here?”

The smaller man swallowed hard, he didn’t break his eyes away from Ed’s. 

Ed found himself moving his hand from Oswald’s chest to his throat, fingers digging roughly into delicate skin. 

He didn’t want this, he hadn’t wanted any of this.

He wanted desperately to force himself to stop, but his other self was taking over. Forcing his hand there, forcing him to tighten his grip and laughing when Oswald coughed and choked.

A sharp seething pain in his side caught Ed’s attention, caused him to release his iron grip on the other man’s throat. He bowed his head looking down at the knife plunged to the hilt inside of him, he looked back up at Oswald whose eyes and general expression were frankly unreadable. Ed found himself taking steps backward until he tripped and fell.

Oswald knelt by his side, he grabbed the knife by its handle and slowly began to pull it from the younger man.

“She-she told me you don’t love me, that you don’t care about me and that this entire time you’ve been using me. I didn’t want to believe her Ed, I didn’t. I know now that she was right, you wouldn’t ever love me. I was foolish allowing myself to think such childish things.”

Despite the great pain that Ed was feeling he knew that if he was treated within the next thirty minutes or less that he would in fact live. He placed a hand over his own wound doing what he could to slow the bleeding, he reached out with his shaking free hand to grab Oswald by the shoulder.

“She played us both.” He managed out his voice breaking.

Oswald furrowed his brow in confusion as he looked down at the younger man.

“What?”

“Oswald I’m-I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would happen this way. I always cared for you, even when I shouldn’t I’ve cared and worried.”

God, it hurt, everything hurt.

He could use some immediate medical attention, but if he bled to death here on the floor then it was what he deserved.

“Ed what are you-you’re just saying that, you’re lying to me again.”

Ed smiled softly, he moved his hand from Oswald’s shoulder to his cheek. He brushed his thumb across his cool feeling skin brushing away tears as they fell from his right eye.

“I wish I was. Os I don’t want to lose you.”

The older man took hold of Ed’s wrist, he turned his head to the side and pressed his lips against the palm of his old friend’s hand. 

“I’m going to call for an ambulance.”

“No, don’t”

“What, but y-you’re bleeding,”

“Get somebody more discreet, I promise it will be better for all involved that way.”

He was pleasantly surprised that Oswald didn’t argue him. Ed watched as the other man pulled his phone from the inside pocket of his black jacket, he dialed up for a man named Todd. A black market doctor who for the most part sold organs and faces, but he also leant a much appreciated hand to patching up thugs and mobsters in and around Gotham. 

In the time while waiting it was silence. The heavy pregnant silence of not knowing, knowing too much. 

Oswald held Ed’s hand, rubbed his thumb across his knuckles. He wanted to believe it was a sign of affection and ever present love, but knew it was more than likely nothing more than a habit. 

He knew he had wanted to destroy him, but seeing him now like this made Ed want to take back every word and every action. Go back to the very first day that they met in the GCPD, force himself to go on his way and not bother this broken man with stupid riddles and bird facts. 

“I should have kissed you,”

Oswald turned his head and looked down at Ed surprised by the words that broke their silence. He wasn’t exact on if it was Ed talking or the words themselves that surprised him.

“What?”

“That night after Butch attacked me. I had considered it as an option, but I thought better of it. I should have taken the risk, I would have if I was certain you wouldn’t hate me for it.” He laughed then groaned at the ache his laughter caused.

The dark-haired man tightened his grip on his hand as if silently scolding him for putting himself in more pain. 

Fresh tears filled the smaller man’s eyes, he bit at his lower lip trying his hardest to prevent himself from further crying. The moment was interrupted by Todd entering the room with his old black leather bag of medical equipment.

He gruffly ordered Oswald to move out of the way so that he could work, Oswald made quick work of getting out of the middle-aged man’s age. He seated himself on the love seat and watched as Todd unbuttoned Ed’s ripped dress shirt.

“This is gonna help make it hurt less, but it’s still gonna hurt like a bitch.”

“Just do it” Ed responded closing his eyes tightly.

He felt the pinch of the needle piercing his skin, within a minute he was mostly numb, but it had been true that he felt it. It did indeed hurt like a bitch, but not dying was worth it. At some point, he would indeed need a real doctor, just to ensure he didn’t get a horrid infection.

Once Todd was done Oswald showed him to the front door, paid him, and told him how grateful he was for his help. The older man simply grunted and waved off the show of gratitude, it was never something he was comfortable with.

Back in the sitting room Oswald carefully helped Ed up from the floor, once standing he asked the man if he would be able to make it upstairs to a bedroom or if he just wanted to sit on the sofa. Ed wanted to tell him to forget about the pleasantries, to just throw him out on his ass and forget they ever happened in the first place. 

“I can make it upstairs, thank you.”

With the smaller man’s help he managed to get to the master bedroom. Oswald lead him to the large bed in the center of the room setting him on the edge. 

Ed watched with fascinated confusion as Oswald knelt before him and began to remove his shoes then his socks, with slight difficulty he got to his feet and helped Ed remove his jacket and utterly ruined dress shirt. The only thing he was left wearing was his pants, he was perfectly fine with this, but he still questioned why on Earth he was receiving this treatment.

He almost felt like the scene downstairs hadn’t taken place to begin with. Perhaps it never happened, Isabella hadn’t happened, no betrayal and no murders. He softly smiled to himself as Oswald helped him get beneath the silk covers, he found himself gently taking hold of his friend’s wrist holding him by his bedside.

Perhaps it was the pain, the blood loss or the pain killers. Perhaps his mind was finally caving in on itself.

“Please stay”

“Ed I don’t think I should.”

“I know that you have to hate me, but just humor the situation for a minute.”

Oswald doubted it was the right thing to do, but he found himself removing his socks and shoes before climbing onto the bed. He lay on his side facing the taller man, he allowed it when Ed wrapped an arm around him pulling him close against his side. Ed smelled of his usual high price cologne as well as the stench of medical equipment and blood, over all it was his normal scent. A sickly sophisticated scent that Oswald had repeatedly fallen in love with.

“I don’t hate you” he whispered as he rests his head against Ed’s chest.

He closed his eyes when he felt a hand on the back of his head, long calloused fingers gently pet through soft black hair.

“You don’t love me either.”

There was silence for a beat, Oswald could feel his…..He could feel Ed’s steady heartbeat.

“I love you so much that I hate myself for it, I don’t blame you Ed.”

Tentatively Oswald placed a hand on Ed’s stomach touching his bandages.

“I know that you loved her, I should have let it go. You just wanted normalcy for once, you wanted to not be surrounded by death and chaos for a second. I stole that from you, that fantasy, and then I lied to you in hopes in your grief that you would fall into my arms. I thought if you didn’t have options then you’d have to give me a second or even first glance, just something. It was so stupid of me, I’m an idiot. I’m just a damned child.”

Ed felt warm tears against his skin, he felt Oswald’s body trembling against him. 

Forgetting all the hurt they caused one another would be impossible to do. He wanted to forgive and forget, forgiving he felt he could do soon. 

Ed pressed a kiss to the top of the other man’s head, Oswald looked up at him. Ed placed a hand against his cheek, thumb brushing away tears just as he had done not too long ago downstairs. He allowed himself to trail the pad of his thumb across Oswald’s bottom lip, he watched the older man’s eyes slip shut as he let out a shuddering breath. 

Ed wasn’t head over heels in love with him, but he felt a love for him. He felt a deep overwhelming sense of caring, he had the urge to protect him and work his damnedest to build him back to the top.

“We both need time to heal.”

“Are you going to leave again?”

“No”

“So now what?”

Ed pushed his fingers back through the smaller man’s already messed hair, he pressed a kiss against his forehead allowing his lips to linger for just a second.

“Right now, we rest, later we could both use some washing up, after that you need to eat, and then we go from there.”

Oswald smiled sadly up at him.

That broken look would never truly be gone. The trust that had been broken on both ends could never truly mend and it would bring up countless issues in their shared future, but Ed was willing to live with that consequence. They were creations of a cruel city filled with violent monsters. It was only natural and eventual that they would hurt each other, so long as they accepted their faults he liked to think they could move forward.

“Do you just want to take care of me because you feel guilty?” Oswald asked attempting to joke, but his hurt was obvious.

“No, it’s because I-“

‘I love you’

The words felt like they should come, but he doubted it was what needed to be said. 

“I care” he amended after a short awkward silence.

“Now get to sleep, you look exhausted.” 

Oswald resumed his position of laying his head on Ed’s chest, “You’ll be here when I wake?”

“Always”

A shiver ran through the younger man when Oswald pressed his lips against his skin. He shouldn’t love him, but he couldn’t help it. Just in the same way that the smaller man still endlessly loved him despite the nightmarish Hell he threw him into.

Ed knew they would be scarred for years to come both physically and emotionally. He knew the pure beginning was now stained with red, but they would emerge stronger for it. He would gladly follow Oswald through Hell so long as it meant he could hold his hand.


End file.
